Last week we asked our readers to vote for their favorite ballad or slow jam of all time. Votes were all over the place – from tracks by Pearl Jam to Elvis Presley to Lionel Richie. In the end it was very close, and there was a tie so we had to expand our standard top 10 to a top 12. If this survey has reinforced anything, it's that our readers really, really love Led Zeppelin.

You could have fooled me. I thought a ballad was a song that tells a story.

Eleanor Rigby (Beatles)

Take The Money And Run

Jack and Diane

Hunchback of Notre Dame (Alec R Constandinos)

Ma Baker (Boney M)

Copacabana (Manilow)

Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (various)

Me And Bobby McGee (various)

Puff The Magic Dragon

pyackog

05-14-2011, 04:00 AM

My top picks in no particular order

I Could Not Ask For More - Edwin McCain
Little Miss Magic - Jimmy Buffett
Piano Man - Billy Joel
Everything I Do I Do it For You - Bryan Adams
Jack and Diane - John Cougar
Little Miss Magic - Jimmy BuffettLove Song - Tesla
Unanswered Prayers - Garth Brooks
More Than Words - Extreme
He Went To Paris - Jimmy Buffett
Remember When - Alan Jackson

Molon Labe

05-14-2011, 11:37 AM

You could have fooled me. I thought a ballad was a song that tells a story.

I think that's true but more with writing than modern day music.
I think what ballad has evolved into in songs is a slower lighter side. When one thinks of the way they used to talk about a heavy metal band singing a ballad. Motley Crue Home sweet Home comes to mind

Kay

05-14-2011, 11:40 AM

Beth - by KISS

NJCardFan

05-14-2011, 03:28 PM

Um, Hey Jude, Let It Be, and Something are Beatles songs and not solo works by McCartney and Harrison.

Novaheart

05-14-2011, 05:23 PM

I think that's true but more with writing than modern day music.
I think what ballad has evolved into in songs is a slower lighter side. When one thinks of the way they used to talk about a heavy metal band singing a ballad. Motley Crue Home sweet Home comes to mind

As usual, the English language goes to hell and Merriam Webster merely designates it as a variation.

Definition of BALLAD

1
a : a narrative composition in rhythmic verse suitable for singing
b : an art song accompanying a traditional ballad
2
: a simple song : air
3
: a popular song; especially : a slow romantic or sentimental song

Novaheart

05-14-2011, 05:25 PM

Oh hell, I give up.

Oxford dictionary:

a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas. Traditional ballads are typically of unknown authorship, having been passed on orally from one generation to the next as part of the folk culture.
a slow sentimental or romantic song.

pyackog

05-14-2011, 07:38 PM

Um, Hey Jude, Let It Be, and Something are Beatles songs and not solo works by McCartney and Harrison.

They were the writers of those songs I think.

pyackog

05-14-2011, 09:38 PM

As usual, the English language goes to hell and Merriam Webster merely designates it as a variation.

Definition of BALLAD

1
a : a narrative composition in rhythmic verse suitable for singing
b : an art song accompanying a traditional ballad
2
: a simple song : air
3
: a popular song; especially : a slow romantic or sentimental song

I usually think of #3 there as today's definition of a ballad.

NJCardFan

05-14-2011, 10:02 PM

They were the writers of those songs I think.

So why isn't Lennon given a writing credit.

pyackog

05-14-2011, 10:13 PM

So why isn't Lennon given a writing credit.

According to wikipedia, he was given credit for let it be and hey jude despite the fact that mccartney wrote them solo.

noonwitch

05-16-2011, 12:22 PM

Of the list, the only ones that are ballads are November Rain and Black (maybe). November Rain tells a story.

ralph wiggum

05-16-2011, 12:38 PM

According to wikipedia, he was given credit for let it be and hey jude despite the fact that mccartney wrote them solo.

IIRC, whether McCartney or Lennon wrote it solo or not, their Beatles works were always credited to both.